From NPR analyst Jennifer Pozner:
Ironically, though Palin has railed against unfair treatment by the mainstream media, she has mostly been referring not to blatant sexism but to reporters who wouldn’t show her “respect and deference.” The last thing journalists owe any politician is deference.
h/t Crooks and Liars
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My mother raised me to believe that respect and deference were hard earned. You earned it by being intelligent, informed, logical, compelling, compassionate, wise and well intentioned.
Could you command respect and deference if you didn’t share one or two of those traits? Probably. (At least I hope so, since compassion has never been a strong suit of mine.)
Could you command it if you had none of those traits? No.
Sorry Sarah, all but the most addle-brained among us already show you all the respect and deference you will ever deserve. And somehow that minimal amount seems like too much.
Hi Lulu
If you ever watch BBC or Canada’s CBC, you’ll now and again bump into reporter/politician interactions. They are quite different from what we see in the US as regards this “deference” matter. American officials at the high levels, particularly presidential, institutionally demand to be treated with a deference that is, ironically, rather more like that which a monarch might demand. It’s a very interesting phenomenon.